See how fire has changed the world's largest wetland, the Pantanal
Stunning and shocking images from upcoming exhibition Water Pantanal Fire show how this tropical wetland has been hit by wildfires
Environment
Stunning and shocking images from upcoming exhibition Water Pantanal Fire show how this tropical wetland has been hit by wildfires
By Simon Ings
30 December 2025
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A marsh deer escaping a forest fire in Poconé, Mato Grosso, in 2020
Lalo de Almeida
Science Museum
How can these four pictures be images of the same region? What force could possibly transform the Pantanal – a tropical wetland straddling Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, full of jaguars, howler monkeys, caiman, marsh deer and a vast number of fish and birds – into a fire-ravaged wasteland?
A dorado in the Olho D’Água river in 2013
Luciano Candisani
The 200,000-square-kilometre wetland – the world’s largest – is used to alternating dry and wet seasons. But climate change, deforestation and intensive farming have made a grim parody of its natural wet and dry cycles. In 2020, a record-breaking wildfire burned over a quarter of the region’s vegetation cover. The last major fire season was in 2024.
